As Jewish communities across the world came together to light their menorahs in unity, others furthered their Jewish hatred. Menorahs displayed throughout the world have been vandalized and desecrated during the eight nights of Hanukkah, which concluded Friday. 

 

Polish legislator Grzegorz Braun extinguished the menorah in Parliament during a ceremony to mark the sixth night of Hanukkah. Parliament Speaker Szymon Hołownia called the act “absolutely scandalous” and later joined top Polish leaders to celebrate the last night of Hanukkah with the Jewish community to send a message of intolerance for antisemitism in Poland.   

 

Several similar incidents occurred in the United States, which prompted significant conversations on social media:

Several violent attacks that occurred throughout the eight days of Hanukkah have gone relatively unnoticed on social media. The events were covered by the media but did not drive significant discussion on social media, with few condemnations of the attacks despite their level of violence.

 

A gunman fired shots outside Temple Israel in Albany, N.Y. on the first night of Hanukkah, while allegedly shouting, “Free Palestine.” No one was hurt, and authorities apprehended the shooter.

 

An assailant mauled and robbed a Jewish man in Brooklyn and called the victim a “dirty Jew” on the same night as the Albany shooting. A similar attack happened in Beverly Hills, Calif., where an elderly Jewish man was attacked with a belt on his way to synagogue with his wife Saturday morning.

 

A 13-year-old was charged for planning a mass shooting at an Ohio synagogue, law enforcement announced Thursday. The juvenile allegedly shared a detailed plan of the attack on the messaging platform Discord.

Conversations around antisemitism on college campuses increased by 28% this week in the aftermath of last week’s congressional hearing with three university presidents. Chatter increased after University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned from her position Saturday, with some users celebrating her resignation while others stressed the need for more institutional change at Penn to support its Jewish students. Much of the backlash was also directed at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which both issued statements supporting their presidents.  

 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution Wednesday condemning college leaders for failing to address antisemitism on their campuses, specifically condemning the three university presidents for their testimony. 

The U.S. Department of Education also launched investigations into six more colleges for Title VI violations this week, including Stanford University and Rutgers University, the latter of which suspended its chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine on Monday.

 

One out of five young Americans believe the Holocaust was a myth, according to a new poll from The Economist and YouGov. The poll surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults about their thoughts on a wide range of issues, including the Israel-Hamas war and the rise in antisemitism. The finding most discussed on social media was the differences in results between generational cohorts, with the views of the younger respondents worrying many users. Other key findings included:

 

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tallied more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in the United States in the first two months of the Israel-Hamas war, representing a 337% increase from the same time period last year, and amounting to almost 34 antisemitic incidents per day. This report provided further proof of the unprecedented rise in antisemitism across the country since the conflict began.

 

 

 

 

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